THIS IS MY TAKE ON NEVILLE VALENCIA AGAINST REAL MADRID .

Now yesterday valencia played real madrid at their home .day befor the game gary neville was interviwed by sky sports where on he was sceptical of remaining long time in management . after the last game neville would had been criticized with the way villareal outplayed them in every department of the game.
yesterday's game by valencia was a positive step in terms of their progress under gary neville . they are making progress that can be said but are far from a finish product or say a very good side . from the game against villareal neville made changes he changed the formation as well as changed the personal . against villareal he played a negative 5-3-2 . here he started the game with a 4-1-4-1 formation . some can say that it was 4-3-3 but it looked more like the latter to me . neville had barragan,santos,abdenour and orban at the back . while perejo was stationed in front of the back four. gomes and danillo were on either side of him but pushed upfield  towards  alcacer who was lone at the top . Rodrigo De Paul and concelo were on the left and right of alcacer . real madrid started with the 4-3-3 system .they had danillo,pepe,ramos and marcelo at the back . kross,moric and kovacic made the middle three with bale benzema and ronaldo at the top .
The started with a good pace and it was played with a good pace till the end . real madrid were sitting back and were playing at the break they were trying to break valencia in the midfield and hit them on the counter . now what is the difference between benitez's team and the team playing under ancelotti then there seems to not lot of difference between them . the tactics too seems to be the same with team sitting back and hitting the opposition on the counter . to be honest benitez like to have the ball . they like to pass the ball around and draw opposition out of position and exploit that . in the entire match real madrid that once in the first half when ronaldo was put through behind the back four . otherwise all through the whole match they played like the old ancelotti team . they passed the ball from wing to wing  trying to stretch the opposition so that it can create space for bale and ronaldo to run in . expect for the first few games benitez hadnt been able to stamp his mark on the team .
valencia on the other had are still developing under neville . it was a good performance from the individuals in the team but still there are certain aspects that needs to be answered . but overall what i had saw that he made the corrections during the game when he saw the weakness in his formation being exploited . perejo was playing in front of the back four and both gomes and danillo were pushed up and it was leaving quite a bit of space on the either side of perejo and madrid seem to exploiting that in the game . perejo on the other hand nobody to partner to cover that space in front of the back four and there was a lot of space to exploit for madrid to explore . the weakness in valencia's rank is that the back two dont have great space and they like other centrebacks like to hold their shape and let the player come on the him rather than go and close him down . this gives  the player in the hole time on the ball and he can cause probles . but unfortunately madrid never had any player in the hole they were too flat and benitez lacked the acumen to exploit that space . valencia like to play from the back and they like to play through perejo who is the instigator of all their offense . madrid had marked that and benitez asked one of three midfielder who will be furthest up to go and close down perejo . valencia could had payed dearly cause perejo lost the ball couple and it was some last ditch defending which save perejo's embaressment .

now why i was praising neville was because intially there was only perejo infront of the back four and it was insufficient . he asked gomes to come and partner perejo in front of the back four . secondly madrid right back danillo was getting quite an amount of space on the right wing and this because rodrigo was getting inside and it was creating lot of space for danillo to run on the side line . neville disciplined rodrigo and in the second half danillo didnt had that joy which he has initially in the first half . the shape was quite better in the second half compared to first half .
the big problem for valencia is that they played alcacer upfront and they never played played to his strength . yes his positioning was quite important and his positioning did created space for gomes and other to exploit but the big question does remains about his involvement on offense and it does reflects in the no. of touches that he had and the chances that he had . alcacer likes to run behind the defense but madrid playing deep meant that he had little space to run behind . plus ramos and pepe kept in front of him and started a yard on the goal side of alcacer . secondly the crosses that madrid played from wide were high ones they should had been low ones which gives alcacer a chance on the high crossess you cannot expect him to beat pepe and ramos . alcacer should be played to his strength and his mobility needs to utilized better by neville . neville does  has to work on this aspect as to which striker he needs to play . whether he needs to play alcacer or negredo .
for valencia gomes particularly shone through this game . his touch and dribble were very good and his runs also were very good . plus the performance of cancelo and rodrigo too would had been given great satisfication for neville . but the big factor does remains as to what his game plan needs to be . he needs to have that and certain individual performance will not help his team all the time but a better game plan. at times when perejo had the ball he really didnt know as to what he needs to do next . perejo was always in two minds as to where he needs to pass and who he needs to pass the ball . secondly he needs have more than one ( perejo) who should move the ball upfield  and that responsibility distributed .  real madrid could had made valencia pay .valencia upfield playes need to have better postioning sense when they move the ball from back to front . at times perejo would see no option and would pass the ball to centre backs and they would be forced to punt .  neville's wing play is good but it is not getting to a fruitful end . it is because he was not able to bring alcacer into the game . all and all neville must be analysing the game and i think a better performance next time around .  

MY TAKE ON GARY NEVILLE'S VALENCIA .

now yesterday valencia played villareal at their home . this was the first of the big game that gary neville faced as the valencia coach . now over the years neville had analysed several coaches and their playing styles . some are defensive coaches who first prefer defense and then rely on counters to win games for them . others are more offensive minded like more of the ball . try to keep the ball and open defense up with their smooth play .
the second thing is that whatever game you play the midfield is the most important part of the game . if you loose battle in the  midfield them you have lost half of the game itself . about the game now i dont know what was neville trying to achieve playing the 5-3-2- formation . the game remember those who not only defend well but also at that time win the game and make the opposition unplayable or open their defense at every opportunity that they get . by playing that three in the middle neville conceded that midfield to villareal from the begining . the second was that when you play 5 at the back you try to press team whenever possible after a certain  point ( lets say in your own half ) . you try to push your fullbacks high up the pitch and not get them in the line and wait for the opposition to open you up . if you are playing 5 at the back you try to play deep and not that high without any pressure on the ball . i was more disappointed with villareal than valencia who couldnt open valencia right through the middle . there was one chance for bukumbu when he was put  on goal by soldado while dos santos too had a good chance in the opening minutes . neville'e team was very poor in both offense and defense . 
firstly defense by playing 5 at the back you literally conceded your team to play counter attacking football and making defense a priority . the fact is that neville playing a flat 5 meant that villareal's fullbacks didnt had a opponent untill they could cross the half line was worrying thing . the midfield was getting stretched trying to cover such a large portion and trying to cover the entire midfield area . the villareal coach just asked his team to move the ball from wing to wing in trying to stretch the valencia middle line and the back five . the second was the space that soldado was getting between the lines and i was quite disappointed that he didnt tried to exploit that space between the lines . valencia's back five were not ready to come out of their shape and go with saldado who was afforded the time and space over the ball in the hole and he used it beautifully to set up bakambu . i expected more from villareal to exploit that midfield region . there was a considerable space behind the back line where on if villareal had moved the ball better then they could had opened valencia more . the second disappointment  with villareal was that they crossed the ball early . they could had tried to have more penetration . the space may not be behind the back four when the valencia dropped back but was in the front where on there was not adeaquate cover and it should had been exploited by villareal . 
now about valencia's offense . they were trying to play out of the back but both negredo and alcacer were not in tandem and were playing too far apart . there was no coordination between them . valencia were trying to play out of the back and perejo was the oschestrator of that offense . even though villareal was pressing but the pressing was not that good enough plus it was not a team effort infact they were dropping back as soon as valencia moved the ball . the trouble was there was no clear plan as to what neville's team was trying to do on offense . it was not that they could move the ball but there was no clear cut plan as to what they need to do . the problem was that neville's fullbacks were playing too much deep and when they were to come into attack they needed to come from much deeper position and had to cover too much area to come forward and by that time viallreal could get numbers behind the ball and defend nicely . he tried to change shape after he fell behind but then the problem do reamin as to what the team needs to do on offense .
to be honest i think neville needs to go back to the drawing board and it would much more advisable for him to take a high up position than sit in the dugout from where he could observe the game better and make necessary changes . 

MY TAKE ON ARSENAL VS MAN CITY 2-1 .

now yesterday arsenal played city at emirates and executed their tactics brilliantly . first i would like to congragulate arsene wenger for drilling the team perfectly and executing the tactics on the pitch . i had criticized arsene wenger in the past for being tactically discreet but yesterday he did showed that he had a game plan and he is very tactically astute .
arsenal started the game with 4-4-1-1 . some people will say that it is 4-2-3-1 but let me tell you the tactics matter most on the defense than on offense .giroud was uptop alone with ozil behind him . walcott and campbell on the wings while flamini and ramsey sat in front of the back four . bellerin,mertasaker,koscielny and monreal were the back four for arsenal . while city had the same formation . they had aguero upfront with silva behind him . de bruyne and delph on the wings while toure and fernandiniho sitting in middle in front of the back four .sagna,otamendi,mangala and kolarov were the back four .

the game had a very good pace to it . both the team were playing deep and there was a reason to it . arsenal have weakness with mertasacker while city's back  two too lack pace and giroud is know to be a good supplier where he can lay ball in the path of walcott and campbell. the other reason that both teams wanted to stretch the game and get time to bring players back to have numbers behind the ball . now the game started the game at a decent pace with city sitting back and the hitting arsenal on the counter attack . now why i said that wenger was very good tactically was because first off he nullified the threats that city have on the pitch . first off he asked flamini to mark silva whenever he comes into arsenal half and close him down whenever he has the ball and deny him time on the ball . now the thing is that anything and everthing that city create or flow it goes through silva and he is the orchestrator and anchor for city . so arsenal made a point of stopping silva in the tracks and flamini stuck to his job . he folowed silva in his half and denied him time and space on the ball . so job one is complete for arsenal and  they were able to frustrate silva who would pick a yellow because he would want to give flamini back what flamini was doing with him . the second was to stop aguero for that wenger choose koscielny to do the job . first arsenal playing deep means that there was very little space for aguero to run behind the back four . secondly koscielny marked him very well . he came out of the defense to mark aguero and even come into mertasacker's zone to close down aguero . against aguero arsenal had a clear plan that koscielny would come out of the defense and mertasacker sit back and provide the cover . while monreal too tried to close down de bruyne but de bruyne chance in the first half made monreal to sit back and let de bruyne come onto him rather than go out and close him down . for the first time city could get behind arsenal's back four because arsenal tried to get too tight to them and it nearly cost them . it made arsenal to pull monreal back and be more patient and told him to hold off his position rather than go out chasing . 
now in the first half the game was evenly poised out and even though arsenal were doing the above things city were comfortable. in the intial exchanges they were the better team and there was a reason for that . toure was playing in the middle town but he had the lisence to go forward . the reason being that delph would come inside and cover for toure and which inturn allowed two things . first off toure could move forward and second kolarov had the space to bomb forward . city played decent football and they seem to carve out a chance when delph found toure in the box but arsenal averted the danger . now aguero playing upfront has its own drawbacks as well . first off the aerial route gets close down because aguero is no match for any centre back pairing where on he will win header against them . but city did make amends for this they crossed low so that aguero can have a chance but couldnt penetrate arsenal back four . untill 25 min city were playing on the counter but after that arsenal sat deep and asked city to open them and countered . now the before the arsenal's first goal there were signs of what could happen and there was a reason for that . even city tried to play long balls to aguero behind the  defense but mertasacker already had a yard or two on the goal side of aguero . secondly these long balls can be intercepted and needs to be precise which didnt frutify for city .
now as i had said earlier that flamini was marking silva i didnt found that with fernandiniho doing the same with ozil who has the similar role with arsenal as does silva has with city . first off city midline was considerable higher than necessary . secondly ozil was constantly finding space between line and even before the first goal he had created a chance for walcott who missed . giroud was constantly getting wide and trying to release walcott and cambell but was not finding success . arsenal were never going to get beyond city back four since they were sitting deep so walcott just used sagna as wall and found the wide corner . sagna was misfooted because he thought that walcott will go in his natural path down the line and cross inside . instead he scored a goal . the second goal was nothing that both teams were trying to do . they were trying to break each other in the  middle of the park and launch counter and on one such counter arsenal scored at the end of the first half . again ozil getting the space . the worst thing is otamendi losing the foot race against giroud which is hopeless for a 35 mil dollar player . 
in the second half arsenal were going to sit deep and then hit on the counter . they did exactly that and were  hopeless not to finish the game by scoring the third goal . aguero playing atop was not working for city so pellegrini tried to change it by bringing in bony for aguero . by bringing in bony city could have somebody who could compete for the aerial crosses in the box and even though bony is not given that much credit and city never play on his strengths but bony is a very good assist or say he can lay off balls  in the path of players . city can play through and around him but never do that . secondly they tried to bring in navas for silva and give de bruyne the no. 10 role . toure was given the lisence to go forward and join the attack . but arsenal were content by sitting back and they brought all players behind the balls and defended with numbers . toure scored a very good goal but other than that they didnt had anything to show for their effort . 
last but not the least ramsey is a good player but spends too much time on the ball and has too many touches which slows down the game and most importantly it give the opposition the time to close him down and arsenal nearly paid for his mistake in the first half . he needs to get his head up quickly and find the pass and make his mind quickly . secondly he needs to make better choices on the ball . at time the players he passed the ball were under pressure already where on he could had choose to pass somebody other . plus if possible try to be more stronger cause it still boys against men with ramsey . 

MY TAKE ON NAPOLI VS ROMA IN THE DRAB DRAW

yesterday napoli played roma at home . this is one of the most boring and drab game that i am having my take on . it was slow boring and too many touches by players spending too much time on the ball making it slow .
napoli started the game with a 4-3-3 formation with reina in the goal . hysaj ,albiol ,Koulibaly and ghoulam as the back four . Jorginho and allan played in front of the back four in the middle of the park giving protection to the back four with hamsik  . while Insigne,higuain,callejon made the front three .while roma started with the 4-2-1-3 formation with Szczesny in the goal . forenzi,rudiger,manolas and digne in the back four .while Nainggolan  and de rossi were in middle in front of the back four .  Pjanic played behind salah,dzeko and falque . 
the game started with both teams trying to press each other and trying to play a very high line . the game was scrappy with so many touches . now dzeko and higuain are two different players with dzeko more comfortable in the physical game . he likes to play with his back to the goal . higuain on the other hand like to have through balls and is more comfortable on the floor than in air . both teams were trying to play high line but roma quickly realised that it would play in napoli's hand since both its centrebacks lack of pace could cause them trouble . so after 20 roma settle deep and tried to absorb napoli's attack and hit them on the counter . after 20 min roma started to hold shape and let napoli come on them rather than committing themsleves and getting exposed . roma played very narrow and rudiger and manolas stayed very tight on higuain .

PLAYERS INDIVIDUAL BATTLE ON THE PITCH .

now in the beginning i said that it was a boring game because both of the teams were one dimensional and lacked a proper edge on offense . napoli's offense depended on insigne . a couple of weeks ago i did a game between munich and gladbach . then munich were one dimensional where on the attacks would just drift towards coman similarly here the attacks drifted towards insigne . napoli had a plan but they never executed it properly nor did they tried to improvise it  . hamsik was playing in the  middle three but was drifting towards the left side and trying to overload the left flank . but just as munich napoli kept on throwing crosses in the box in a bid that one of them will end on higuain or callejon's head but manolas and rudiger were very tight to higuain . they were good in the air and cleared every ball that came in their way . the only balls that caused for them was the crosses from ghoulam who would stride forward and crossed low which caused problems and on one such cross in the second half higuain failed to connect . the trouble with napoli's offense was that they didnt had a proper no.10 who would play behind higuain or who would go beyond higuain and cause problems for roma . secondly there was no second line of offense on the crosses it was only higuain and callejon in the box there was nobody other who would join them in the box . thirdly hamsik dropped on the left and even higuain did tried to join them and worked the zone but the inexperience and selfishness of insigne needs to stop and he needs to make better decisions . hamsik needs to read the situations better he was put on the goal in the second half and he could had take the ball a bit further and taken the shot but took a shot from the distance . he should had known that he had a yard on the defender and he had a better pace than the defender . last but not the least but the attack needs to spread even where callejon was just trying to be at the end of the crosses from insigine with little contribution in the offense and having fewest touches in the match .
roma had tried to play out from the back but good pressing from napoli meant that they had to retort to the direct route of  the english football . the reason being that not only was napoli pressing well but roma's players did actually knew as what they need to do on offense . their passing was very poor had too many touches and losing the individual battles . one of the key reason's why roma couldnot play out from the back was that allan was doing a successful pressing on Nainggolan . in roma's offense de rossi sits in front of the back four and doesnt like to come out too much from his position leaving the back four exposed so Nainggolan is given the lisence to go forward but allan's pressing meant that roma just couldnt play through him and it left a big hole in the middle with no support for the middle . the second biggest reason why roma were not able to play well was the inability of pjanic to control the game and with little imagination . he was another player who was tightly marked by napoli with jorginho dropping tight on pjanic . they were these individuals battle all over the pitch but the trouble was pjanic wasnt that disciplined on the defense as jorginho was . the third and the most important reason why roma were hopeless was that napoli's pressing meant that roma had to go direct to dzeko but the trouble with dzeko was that he didnt had a single player to who he could pass the second touch . napoli's centre backs were already tight on him so it was necessary to have players around him but roma failed to provide any support for dzeko and continously lost possession . roma just couldnt play proper they were very poorer compared to napoli and the coach needs to sort things out .

MY TAKE ON BORUSSIA MUNCHENGLADBACH VS BAYERN MUNICH 3-1

now yesterday bayern munich played gladbach at their home and got beaten . many of them were amazed at the result but then bayern were too be caught and they were caught by a good gladbach team who when they had the ball moved it brilliantly and most importantly they were able to find their players and most importantly they knew where there players were . they made good decisions on the ball ,they moved it well .
gladbach started with their prevailing 4-4-2 formation although the commentrators were saying that there were 5 at the back . i always found them in the 4-4-2 formation with stindl and raffael upfront while johnson and although wendnt is a defender but he played quite upfront and was played quite up on the left side . xhaka and dahoud played in front of the defense which consisted of christensen,Nordtveit,Korb and Elvedi. while bayern started with 4-3-3 formation with lewandowski upfront with muller on right and coman on the left . while alonso stayed in the front the back four the front three were supported by martinez and vidal . the back four consisted of lahm,boetang,benatia and rafiniha . now martinez played in behind the front three . the reason being that gladback had conceded most number of goals in the bundesliga on setpieces and the had the lisence to go and join lewandowski in the box on the crosses .
bayern started the game with good pressing but they were monotonous on their offense . it was very much choreographed as to what bayern were going to do on their offense and gladbach could just read it perfectly and clear whatever ball was crossed in the box . the game started with both team trying to play out of the back with gladbach sitting deeper compared to bayern who played quite a high line and it let to their third goal . so both teams were trying to play out of the back both teams were pressing each other high up . for the first time i would say that i had seen some team who was able to content bayern with their pressing and actually trouble them up . gladbach were a very disciplined team they pressed better than most of the team in the bundesliga but also when the ball was passed in the final third they congested the box . there was no space between the lines in the gladbach defense .
now bayern had been playing monotonous against most of the teams this term and had got away . they had been playing like an english team who take the ball wide and whip it in the box . they were playing different than the earlier gaurdiola team and had been much direct this term . earlier gaurdialo teams will take ball wide but wont just whip it in the box . they would work that zone and actually try to work the space the have got by stretching the opposition defense but here they were very direct unlike gaurdila teams of the past who would test with their possession and movement . here in the whole match the patter was the same with the ball ending at coman's feet and he crossing the ball in the box . there were only two instances in the match when bayern played a former gaurdiola team when they combined very well and pryed open gladback . it was lewandowski attempt and the gladbach goalkeeper making a fine save  in the first half . the second one was the only bayern goal which they scored through ribery . the trouble with bayern was that they didnt had a proper no. 10 . they were relying on the physical aspect of the game where on they though that they could beat gladbach in the air since gladbach had conceded so many on set pieces but gladbach defended quite decently with xhaka at times dropping in the back four to make it five and narrowing the space between players .
most importantly what i found in this bayern loss was that gaurdiola was adamant and wasnt ready to change his tactics he didnt ask coman to keep hold of the ball and work that zone and or try to have a better penetration . the other aspect was the number of spillled balls by bayern . their first touch in the match was the worst that i had seen by any gaurdiola team . what gladbach's pressing meant that bayern had to make 40 to 50 yard passes from back to front . now the ball comes at a very high speed and a player snapping at your back it becomes very hard to control and then pass it . bayern were not their best when it came to their passing . i think this game will give gaurdiola some thought to rework his tactics and the shock came at the right time .
to be honest i couldnt complete the post without the mention of this player who was amazing to me and his performance was the highlight to me . mahmoud dahoud was just quite amazing to me . he was partnering xhaka in the middle of the defense helping stop bayern's offense and then joining on the counter .his passing was precise always made very good decisions on the ball. he was very energetic on the pressing and was one of the reason why gladbach pressed very successfully . he is player to watch for the future for me . 

EL CLASSICO REAL MADRID VS BARCELONA 0-4

yesterday real madrid played barcelona at home . the game is essentially important as it test both teams as to how far they have come up fom the last season . the game was important for real madrid since they were outplayed last season . the last game between barca and madrid was dominated by barca and this game was test of rafa benitez's credentials as to how much he has his stamp on  the team . this game not only gives phychologial boost but it gives bragging rights in the league as well .
madrid started the game with a 4-2-1-3 formation with ronaldo,benzema and james at top while bale played just off the front three . modrid and kross were stationed in front of the back four which consisted of danillo,varane,ramos and marcelo. while barca started with 4-3-3 formation with suarez up top with neymar and sergio roberto alongside him . iniesta,busquestus and rakitic made the middle three . the back four consisted of alves,piques,mascherano/mathieu and alaba.

now real madrid had mouriniho and ancelotti before rafa benitez . both of those teams had been counter attacking team with jose mouriniho being particularly successful against barca with this hard counter attacking style . his team would sit back and soak barca attack and then  attack on the counter . ancelotti's team too hadnt been different but then there had change of guard at barca and barca had changed their style last season . barca instead of pressing up started sitting back and hit teams on the counter and that had yeild them treble last season . now the pressure was on  rafa this season to be different than the rest of the madrid teams from before .
now the game started with a very decent pace with madrid pressing and barca being able to play around . madrid started the game with high pressing but barca were able to play around and move the ball forward . the real reason why barca were able to play forward and move the ball because madrid's pressing was not proper . it was individualistic rather than a team effort . player's who's opposite number had the ball would go on and press but there was no team effort in that . they would not press the players to whom the ball can be passed or the ones that were options on the pass .  the trouble with madrid that the team was too much open there was too much of space between the lines and at times you could literally see kross and modric treading back trying to cover the space in front of the back four . most of the barca goals came in  that zone and madrid time and time were not able to close that space . in jose mouriniho's time this space would not be there . jose mouriniho's team would deny any space in front of the back four . the real reason why barca were getting this space because both kross and modric were trying to press barca's midfield and were getting played around . the warning signs for madrid were there from the start when iniesta found sergio roberto who didnt showed enough courage to take the shot and scuffed it .

for barca to be effective suarez's movement on and off the ball was very important . he would come deep and help move the ball forward . but the real trouble was that initially madrid tried to press suarez but they were getting overrun in the midfield and when they tried to press up barca was getting the space behind the back four to explore . the trouble with madrid was not the defense but the offense . if your offense is good then  the opposition doesnt dares to actually committ too many players on offense . madrid had no offense . first off the front four had no cohesion between them . madrid didnt had a front pivot around whom they could play their offense . whoever has the ball would try to cross or shoot but there was no coherent team play . initially bale was playing as the no.10 but he never looked like one who could control the tempo of the game . kross and modric had the double responsibility of both defending the back four as well as creating chances for the team . while suarez was very effective for barca ronaldo just couldnt put his stamp on the game . if it can be put into simple words then the team has no offense and defense . they were trying to press but were getting played around and barca were creating chances on every play when they had the ball .
to be honest this had the poorest performance by any madrid team which didnt had any plan . along the years i had known that rafa benitez tends to make changes or improvise as the game rolls on but here he just seem hopeless and the system that he created didnt had any answer for barca onslaught and most important intrying to be different they were hammered by a very good barca side who could literally choose the zone to explore and milk it . 

MY TAKE ON ARSENAL VS SPURS 1-1

first and foremost let me write that untill now i had considered that arsene wenger never worried about tactics and his philosophy was to play good short passing football on the floor and everything fall in place but yesterday's substitution of czorla showed that arsene does cares about tactics and he rightfully subbed czorla to save the game which was getting drifting away from him .
yesterday arsenal played spurs at emirates . both teams started with the same formation with a 4-2-3-1 . arsenal had giroud at the top with sanchez,ozil and campbell behind him . czorla and coquelin were in front of the back four . while debuchy,mertasacker,koscielny and monreal . for spurs kane was at the top while lamela ,dembele and eriksen were behind him . dier and delle alli were in front of the back four . walker,Alderweireld,vertroghen and rose were the back four .

FIRST HALF:-
now the game started with a very fast pace with both teams attacking each other as soon as they got hold of the ball . both teams were attacking  counter attacking at pace . now pachettino has studied arsenal and he positioned kane in the zone between mertasacker and debuchy . the very reason why kane was positioned against mertasacker was because mertasacker struggles against pace and is not very keen to come out of the defense and close his opposite number he likes the player to come on him and then take him . arsenal could had been made to pay for mertasacker's attitude in the initial minutes and only czeck's fine form saved him. for the first 20'min the game continued at this brisk pace with both teams playing at pace and trying to hit out each other on counters and catch each other fleet footed . now spurs goal was nothing but a stupidity by arsenal they tried to congest the game by playing a high line but they were not really pressing . the goal scored by kane was because of his good understanding of the position . mertasacker and koscielny lacked the necessary link that is there in the centrebacks and it let to spurs goal . kane just exploited the space that was left wide open by mertasacker .
the game settled on 20 min with spurs seized the control of the game in their own hands and that because pochettino sent dembele who was  behind kane to partner dier in the midfield . dembele was very good in closing arsenal down and getting the ball back whenever spurs lost the ball . he was so good on the ball that arsenal had to sub czorla to get back into the game. arsenal were playing pretty deep and their centrebacks were not ready to come out the defense which was giving kane ample amount of time on the ball to come deep and release pressure on his midfielders to move the ball . arsenal's especially czorla was very poor . he was suppose to be marking demebele who was his opposite number and dembele was getting past him as if he was nowhere  . just as dembele was having a free time  delle alli was doing very good in his no.10 role his close control  was good. but he still has to learn with ozil running the show on the other end . spurs were not enough to take the game away from arsenal where they messed up on chances or just couldnot produce the final ball when required when they had done all the hardwork . lamela was very good in the middle of the park as he had the lisence to come inside and go beyond kane . he dribbled nicely but fumbled or became greddy on the last moment .

after 20min arsenal were sitting back and trying to hit spurs on the counter . even though spurs were controlling the first half there were chances for arsenal in the first half . spurs were dominating in the midfield so arsenal choose to move the ball through the wings . ozil dropped on the left to combine with sanchez . while giroud was coming inside to help move the ball . just as arsenal's back four spurs back four too were not coming out with giroud to close him down instead were giving him space to pick the pass . campbell was playing down the left and was trying to cut inside and cause problems to spurs  as the same  wat he did at swansea . even when he passed he would choose to pass to sanchez on the right bypassing the midfield . sanchez,ozil and monreal combined very well to create a chance for giroud but he couldnot finish it .
SECOND HALF :- arsenal started the  second half with flamini subbing czorla . it was a very correct decision on the part of arsenal who were  getting dominated in the midfield and wenger was determined to get some foothold in the midfield . the game continued the same  till the 75 with spurs comfortable and sitting back and soaking arsenal's effort but the second substitution for arsenal changed the game . gibbs substituted campbell who was tired . gibbs moved on the left and sanchez on the right with him ozil too moved on the right flank . the goal that was scored by gibbs was the same ball that a week before giroud scored the goal against everton. he produced the same and gibbs finished on that beautiful ball . spurs substitution in the second half helped arsenal more than they helped spurs . spurs substituted dembele and delle alli and both were the reason why spurs were dominting in the midfield and the game . arsenal got bouyant in the last 15 min because they didnt had dembele and delle alli who could keep the ball and ease pressure on spurs .
now eric dier was very good for spurs in the midfield but his lack of concentration could had cost spurs dear where on he let giroud once on the free kick and second on the corner on which giroud narrowly failed to score .
CONCLUSION:- arsenal had a deserved draw they started the game better but spurs took the control of the game after 20 min which they seized back after 75 min . arsenal need to think of dropping mertasacker as he allows the opposition too much of space to explore and is poor on the floor . it would  be better to play koscielny and gabriel who are can form good partnership .